On Friday 1 March, the European Commission received notifications from Booking.com, X (formerly Twitter) and ByteDance (parent company of TikTok) under the Digital Markets Act (DMA) (see EUROPE 13243/11).
All three have met or exceeded the thresholds that characterise gatekeepers: turnover and number of end users and business users, as well as dominant market position.
The DMA defines gatekeepers as the major online platforms that act as an important bridge between business users and consumers.
While ByteDance and its social network TikTok are already concerned, X and Booking were not included in the Commission’s first round of designations last September (see EUROPE 13244/3). Six companies have already been designated as ‘gatekeepers’ for 22 platform services, and the DMA rules are due to apply from 7 March 2024.
The Commission now has 45 days to assess these figures and the arguments put forward by the companies to exempt their services, before reaching a decision by 13 May at the latest. The designated services will then have six months to comply. (Original version in French by Isalia Stieffatre)